The Search for Ulyssa

by Heidi J. Leavitt

  Is that my aunt? Kendra wondered uneasily.

  I think so. I can’t sense her well, but if she’s in stasis already it would be difficult.

  Kendra shivered. Caskets were often draped in white. This faking-a-death business was a little too realistic. She had to stop her twitching fingers from ripping the sheet away and checking to make sure her aunt was still alive.

  Outside, the Denicorizen guard was speaking to her uncle.

  “It is the least I can do, Ambassador, to spare you the scene out front,” the guard said. “Dr. Meurille advised us of how important it is for Citizens to tend to their own dead with privacy.” His voice grew hoarse. “On behalf of my fellow Denicorizens, I apologize deeply for your loss.”

  “Thank you,” her uncle said simply. Then he climbed in beside Kendra while Mr. Granger walked around to slide into the driver’s seat. The guard shut the doors, and the aide started the transport.

  “If your security detail learns you left the hospital without them, they are going to string me up,” Mr. Granger muttered as he started to program the computer.

  “They don’t need to know. The admiral ordered them to give me some privacy to grieve. We’ll be back in the waiting room before they realize we’re gone.” Mr. Granger shook his head but didn’t say anything. “You’d better raise the partition,” her uncle added. “The riskiest part will be when the shuttleport guards stop you at the gate. You need to do everything possible to keep them from seeing us.”

  “I might not be able to stop them from searching the transport, even if Ms. Cordova has alerted them to expect us,” Mr. Granger warned.

  “Well, worst-case scenario, I’ll tell everyone I wanted her buried in an undisclosed location, and I needed a ship.”

  Mr. Granger nodded, and then he pressed a switch, and the partition between the driver’s cab and the cargo area creaked closed, shutting him off from view.

  As soon as they were completely closed in, Uncle Casey slid off his seat and tugged at the white cloth, folding it back. Kendra could see her aunt’s ghostly pale face through the top of the medical capsule. She was utterly still; her eyes were closed and she didn’t even appear to be breathing.

  “Is she all right?” Kendra asked, her heart pounding.

  Her uncle bent over the capsule and checked the side panel. “She’s in stasis. Dr. Meurille said that she’ll have to stay comatose for a long time. They had to repair too many of her internal organs.” He dropped the sheet and straightened it back over the capsule so it couldn’t be seen. “Medicine on Corizen isn’t exactly cutting edge. But they saved her life, and I’m grateful for that.” Then he settled back into his seat and wearily closed his eyes. Kendra wondered if he had gotten any sleep during the night at all.

  The ride to the shuttleport was short and much smoother than her first trip had been. Kendra had no window to see from—she had no idea if the streets were empty in the early morning or if Mr. Granger was that much better at driving. Eventually, the transport slowed to a stop. Her uncle’s eyes flew open, and he cocked his head toward the front. The partition was thin enough that Kendra could hear a Denicorizen voice asking questions and Mr. Granger’s muffled answers. Uncle Casey stared intently at the side loading door, waiting to see if they would insist on inspecting the transport.

  Kendra!

  She jolted upright in her seat as Dina’s anxiety swept through her mind.

  Ulyssa is coming. Don’t listen to anything that you feel!

  What does that even mean?

  It means she may try to manipulate you, Dina warned, her words coming so fast that Kendra almost couldn’t understand her.

  Manipulate me into doing what?

  No time! Just hold strong! Then the wall slammed down with more force than before, and for the second time in less than a day, Kendra was completely alone.

  Only for a second.

  The mind barrier Dina had raised shattered like brittle ice. Once again Kendra was swamped with pure hatred. She gripped the armrests of her seat, her knuckles whitening.

  Dina? she ventured. There was an answering spike of loathing. It wasn’t Dina. Kendra pressed a hand to her forehead, as if she could force the wave of hate back out of her skull.

  Dina? she asked again, her mental voice faint. She could barely summon the strength to fight back.

  Suddenly, everything eased. It was as if she’d been caught in a tornado of darkness, pummeling her, and then suddenly it died out. She couldn’t sense anyone else in her head. She started to take a deep breath, when suddenly the cargo hold started to feel way too small. She tugged at the neckline of her dress and bounced a knee restlessly. What was taking the guards so long? Why wouldn’t they just quit talking to Mr. Granger and let them go?

  Kendra stared around the cargo hold, finding it harder to breathe. Everything seemed to be closing in. She needed to get out! She stared at the door, and an immense, irrational longing to jump out of the transport filled her mind. If she could just get outside and take a breath for a moment, she would feel better. Everything would be fine.

  She shook her head. That was the worst idea ever! They were trying to sneak into the shuttleport without anyone knowing the ambassador’s wife was still alive. Jumping out the door and startling the guards would not help that one bit. She dragged her eyes away from the door, focusing on the white-draped capsule.

  My aunt needs to get away safely. Just a little bit longer. I can wait. I’m fine!

  Kendra waited for reassurance from Dina, but she didn’t hear anything. Was this what Dina meant by not listening to what she felt? Was this horrible claustrophobia coming from Dina’s twinspark? How could she even do that?

  She gritted her teeth and kept her eyes away from the door. There was nothing to worry about. There was plenty of space. She could breathe just fine. She was in here with Uncle Casey and Aunt Andie, and she was perfectly safe. Nothing could happen to her.

  Her skin started to crawl. She was inside a cargo hold with a corpse. If only she could just shove the medical capsule away. She was sitting next to a dead body! Dead bodies didn’t need to breathe! She was going to suffocate and die in the transport! She had to get out!

  “Kendra,” her uncle whispered. “Are you OK?”

  She stared at her uncle, suddenly terrified of him. He loomed forward, his face threatening. Her pulse rocketed faster. Some part of her mind screamed that he was a monster, that he had killed her aunt, and that she needed to escape, she needed to fly out the door, and she needed to do it now!

  The transport rumbled to life again, lurching forward, and Kendra blinked. Her uncle was watching her with worried eyes.

  “I know it’s been an ordeal,” he said. “We’ll get you on that ship, and then you can rest for a bit.” Kendra took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Her uncle was not a monster, her aunt was not dead, and she had plenty of air. Plenty of space. These feelings weren’t real. She gripped her armrests, physically holding herself to her seat. She was not going anywhere, regardless of the crazy, irrational panic that was tying her stomach into knots.

  “I’m . . . OK,” she whispered through gritted teeth. “Just a little . . . anxious.”

  Her uncle reached over and squeezed her arm. She wanted to flinch. Then she had the sudden desire to gouge his eyes with her fingers.

  Dina! she screamed. What is wrong with me?

  There was no answer. Just complete and utter silence from her shadow.

  But then Kendra caught it—just the tiniest sense of gloating.

  She snatched at the emotion. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t Dina.

  This isn’t real, she whispered. But her body still didn’t believe her. Not even all of her mind did.

  She was under attack from inside her own head. And there didn’t seem to be any way to stop it.

  ♦

  By the time the transport stoppe
d again, Kendra had tears streaming down her cheeks from the effort of holding herself together. As soon as the door slid open, she bolted from the transport, catching her dress on the frame and tearing a jagged gash in the tulle.

  “Kendra?” Mr. Granger’s bewildered call barely penetrated the haze of panic.

  “Kendra! Wait!” called her uncle.

  Suddenly, the oppressive anxiety vanished. Kendra stumbled to a halt, gasping for breath.

  Kendra! You’re all right, everything is all right. Just breathe.

  Dina! Her thoughts felt scattered, and her heart was still racing. But she closed her eyes and tried to draw a deep breath. Her chest shuddered as she let it out. Was that . . . what was that?

  Ulyssa. She’s moved away, though. It took all her strength to get to you like that, and I finally pushed her out. I’m sorry for putting you through that—I needed to exhaust her strength before we leave Corizen.

  I don’t understand.

  A hand dropped on her shoulder, and Kendra jumped.

  “Kendra, what’s wrong?” Uncle Casey sounded completely unnerved.

  “I-I don’t know,” she stammered. “I just felt like I couldn’t breathe inside the transport. I thought I was going crazy.”

  “Probably a panic attack,” said a new voice from just behind her. She turned around to see a tall woman in a flightsuit looking at her with concerned eyes.

  “Hello, Kelly,” her uncle said in relief. Kelly stepped forward and gave her uncle a brief hug. He turned back to Kendra. “Kendra, this is Kelly Cordova, an old friend of Andie’s. She is going to be your pilot.”

  Kendra tried to gather her scattered wits and her manners. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Cordova,” she said, her voice only trembling a little.

  “Call me Kelly,” she said with a smile. Then she turned back to Uncle Casey. “Is she here?” she asked anxiously.

  Her uncle nodded. “Her capsule’s in the transport.”

  “Will she make it?” Kelly asked quietly.

  “Yes.” He ran a hand through his hair. “If we can keep her safe long enough for her to recover.”

  Kelly stood up straighter. “Well then, let’s get her off this planet. I need to launch in less than twenty minutes to make our jaunt window.” She pointed back at the ship ramp that Kendra had run right past.

  “Head on up, Kendra. There’s a capsule ready and waiting for you. Just change and get settled. I’ll be up to tuck you into stasis after I get through the rest of my prelaunch.”

  Casey raised an eyebrow at Kendra, clearly wondering if she was up to doing anything. She pulled herself together. She could do this. They needed to get her aunt off planet, and for now at least, no deranged fears were filling her head. She nodded at her uncle. He wrapped an arm around her and squeezed tightly before heading back to the transport, where Mr. Granger was already starting to unload the medical capsule onto a cargo trolley.

  Dina, how did Ulyssa do that to me? I almost went berserk! I almost tried to claw my uncle’s eyes out!

  I’ll explain later. You need to get up in that transport like the pilot said.

  Kendra sighed but didn’t protest. Instead she headed for the ramp and trudged up the steep incline. Inside the loading door she found that she was in a tiny crew lounge. A ladder to her left headed up to a sealed hatch, presumably leading to either the pilot’s pod or possibly the cargo hold. There was a bank of four stasis capsules locked into cradles on the left, with two additional empty cradles, one of which would hold her aunt’s capsule. Kendra found a dingy gray set of stasis clothes neatly folded on top of one of the capsules, and she only had to try two of the doors off the lounge before she found a tiny lavatory. She squeezed inside, barely able to turn around.

  You are going to have a hard time getting undressed, Dina said. Kendra looked down at the torn and wrinkled ball gown and swallowed. How excited she had been when she had first put it on! She and Tiran had twirled in front of each other, squealing like little girls.

  Where is Tiran? Her chest hitched.

  Your uncle will find her, Dina said firmly. Now get that dress off. The sooner you are in stasis, the better I will feel.

  Kendra reached backward, blindly swiping for the zipper.

  I thought you hated it when I was in stasis. She brushed the zipper with her fingers and pinched it awkwardly. She could only get it down a few centimeters before it stuck.

  You’ll be safer from Ulyssa. I don’t think she can manipulate you in stasis. At least you won’t feel it if she does.

  Kendra shuddered and yanked harder on the zipper. It jerked as it ripped free of the snag.

  Manipulate me? Is that what she was doing? It felt like she invaded my brain. I felt panicky—and I kept having these crazy thoughts and impulses.

  All isithunzi can manipulate energy, Kendra. You already know that. What else do we do together? Thoughts and emotions are just another kind of energy.

  We can’t manipulate other humans!

  Dina chuckled. No? How do you think you got Kip to lend you his scanner? How do you think you even got your parents to agree to let you go to Corizen? You can be charming, Kendra, but not that charming.

  Kendra frowned as she pulled her arms out of the dress and let it fall to the floor. She had forced her way into Kip’s head somehow? And her parents’? Had she been twisting their thoughts? Her stomach clenched. What kind of awful person forced someone to do something against their will? Had they felt like she had? Like she had no control over her body? They hadn’t seemed upset or panicked . . . but the idea that she might be making people do stuff they didn’t want to was sobering—and terrifying.

  As she was pulling on the stasis tank top, she had a sudden horrible thought.

  Was that why Bren came to the ball then? Because I forced him to?

  When you want something, you tend to push without realizing it. So originally, you probably influenced him. But you can only manipulate people into doing something some part of them wants to anyway. And in the end, when Bren came you weren’t anywhere near him. You would have had to be close to him to manipulate him, and it wears off. So it’s safe to say that in Bren’s case, you were charming enough to convince him to come to the ball.

  That sounds ridiculous. Kendra paused thoughtfully. But reassuring too.

  He does like you, Dina said.

  He’s going to think I hate him when I disappear off-planet without even a word to him. She heaved a gloomy sigh and then pulled on the stasis shorts. Fortunately, these ones had a drawstring so she could pull them tight enough not to fall off.

  Ulyssa hates me. Not just “I don’t like someone foreign to me.” True hatred. Kendra stopped trying to fold her ball gown into a smaller bundle and frowned. I felt it. It was like she would obliterate me from existence if she could. Why? What did I ever do to her?

  Dina hesitated.

  You’re human, she said at last.

  Kendra had no idea what to say to that. She fumbled around on the ground, slipping the straps of her fancy slippers over two fingers.

  Is that why she wants Aunt Andie dead too?

  Yes.

  Why us in particular?

  Dina sighed. It’s not just you in particular.

  Dina was not telling the full truth. Kendra was sure of it. Ulyssa might hate humans in general, but Kendra had felt the direct hostility. It was intensely personal. Was it just jealousy because Dina was bound to Kendra? But that didn’t explain why she wanted Aunt Andie dead so badly.

  Let it go, Kendra. Let’s just get home. I’ve connected with Ulyssa enough that I should be fine for another decade. We’ll deal with her again when we have no other choice.

  Have it your way. Kendra was too exhausted to push the issue. All she wanted was to get into stasis and wake up back home, far from this nightmare.

  Back in the storage room, she
found that Aunt Andie’s capsule was already locked into an empty cradle. Her uncle stood over it, his fingers lightly resting on the glassy top as if he were trying to caress his wife through the lid. Kendra stopped in the doorway, not wanting to intrude, but her uncle heard the door and glanced up at her. His eyes shone with unshed tears.

  “Take care of her, please, Kendra?”

  Kendra left the doorway and moved to her uncle’s side, glancing down at her aunt’s marble face.

  “I will.”

  He hugged her. “And take care of yourself.”

  She swallowed. “Uncle Casey? I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about Tiran and Markus before. It’s all my fault. We could have found her by now.”

  Her uncle squeezed her. “I’m sure I’ll find her quickly. Then I’ll send her off to Zenith after you.”

  Kelly clambered down from the ladder. “Casey, it’s time to say goodbye. The clock is counting down quickly.”

  He hugged Kendra again and then pressed two fingers to Aunt Andie’s capsule one last time.

  “Thank you, Kelly,” he said, his voice husky. “I owe you.”

  “It’s the least I could do for Andie. She would do the same for me,” Kelly said, her voice somber. Her uncle nodded once, and then without another word, he turned and strode for the loading door.

  Kendra watched him go, wondering if she would ever see him again. Then she shoved aside the worry. She would see him again. He would find Tiran, they would all come to Zenith, and this would all be behind the family.

  Kelly tapped a code into the door panel, and the loading door closed and sealed itself shut.

  “All right, Kendra, let’s get you tucked in,” Kelly said briskly. “I’d let you stay awake, but I think you’d find it a long and boring trip.” She raised the lid of the medical capsule next to Aunt Andie. “Climb in while I grab the probes.”

  Kendra awkwardly scrambled into the capsule, remembering the last time she had done this, over a year ago now. But unlike on the space station, Kelly didn’t bother with checking her vitals first. She just pricked Kendra with the probe, connected it to the capsule, and waved at her to lie down.